On April 3, 2004 the California State University at Fullerton opened a major Thomas Kinkade exhibition filling both of the two art spaces that it controls. The exhibition included paintings, collectibles, home furnishings, and all manner of "Kinkadiana."
The show's curator is Jeffrey Vallance, a Los Angeles?based artist and professor. There's a catalog with reproductions, commentary, and articles by art critics. Kinkade is the world's best selling artist, but the exhibit has generated some powerful negative comments.
"People are pretty outraged -- outraged and confused," said Stephen Anderson, a Santa Ana artist. Jamie Wilson of the Square Blue Gallery in Costa Mesa went farther: "This is the worst thing to happen to the art world."
What's going on here? Comments like those come mostly from artists, art critics and the folks who run galleries that don't sell Kinkade's paintings. If you want to understand them, you need to dig into why they think an exhibit of Kinkade's work at a university gallery is such a bad idea. To start with, they don't think Kinkade is a very good artist
Thomas Kinkade Doesn't Produce Great Art
This is almost certainly true. In fact, the great majority of artists don't produce great art. One of the characteristics of great art is that it's very, very rare.
But what about Kinkade's stuff? I'm not going to pretend to any sophisticated art criticism here, but I'd venture to say that his work and pure artistic quality is closer to that of his idols, Norman Rockwell and Maxfield Parrish than it is to a Rembrandt or a Vincent Van Gogh.
Just about everything Kinkade does involves variations on the same nostalgic scenes. There are a variety of landscapes, often with cottages and bridges, sunrises and sunsets. If there is a cottage in the picture, you'll see light in all of the windows. In most of Kinkade's paintings you'll find multiple sources of light that could not possibly occur in nature.
For a different perspective, look at another artist who is one of Kinkade's favorites: Caspar David Friedrich. Friedrich was a German romantic painter. He's covered in most of the comprehensive art histories and encyclopedias, but he's hardly ever mentioned as a "great artist."
Friedrich's work and Kinkade's actually look a lot alike if you compare something like Kinkade's "Sunrise" with Friedrich's painting "Morning in Riesengebirge." But that resemblance disappears if you view some of Friedrich's other works, like "The Abbey in the Oak Forest," "Cloister Graveyard in Snow," or "Arctic Shipwreck."
Greatness, ultimately, is a judgment of history. We can't be sure where Thomas Kinkade will come out, but the odds seem pretty good that he won't make it into the great artists category. But that's true for the vast majority of painters who are working today, so the powerful negative judgments of Kinkade must be based on something besides his skills as a painter. If his critics don't like his painting, they really don't like his values.
Thomas Kinkade's Paintings Endorse "Corny" Values
Just as "cronies" are the friends of people you don't like, "corny" is a word you use to describe a value system that you believe is different and less sophisticated than your own. Most of the folks in today's art world seem to believe that they have a sophisticated lifestyle and value system that is different from and superior to the mainstream.
Not so Thomas Kinkade. He's right there in the middle of the mainstream. If there is a painter for the Silent Majority, it would be Thomas Kinkade. And he's not at all shy about talking about telling you what he believes or how it affects his painting.
Let's begin first with the case of the "N's." Every Kinkade painting includes at least one letter "N." Some paintings have more than a hundred. And what does the "N" stand for? It stands for "Nannette."
Each of those "N's" is a tribute to Nannette, who was Kinkade's high school sweetheart and who has been his wife for over twenty years. The man loves his wife and he shows it, in part, by putting those "N's" throughout his paintings.
He puts other things in his paintings, too. Those "things" are Bible verses. John 3:16 is a favorite, but have been others. Some of his paintings are based on Biblical passages or themes. Thomas Kinkade, you see, is a not-very-shy Christian.
If you were to go hunting for people who openly and enthusiastically espouse Christian beliefs, you probably wouldn't begin your search at most art schools or artist organizations. The people who make up much of the art establishment in the U. S. and in the World, sneer at Christians and don't make an exception for Kinkade.
They see religious beliefs like his as simplistic. They see his nostalgia for the American small town life of years ago as simplistic and corny. But both are part of the man Thomas Kinkade has become and the boy he once was.
Thomas Kinkade was born on January 19, 1958 in Sacramento, California. He grew up in the small town of Placerville.
Kinkade's parents divorced when he was five; and, as he has said, he was just about the only kid he knew in Placerville who didn't have two parents. That wasn't comfortable. But he was always the kid who could draw, and drawing became a refuge. Later it became his ticket out, first to the University of California at Berkeley and then to the Art Institute in Pasadena.
When he first left Placerville, Kinkade wanted to get away from the small town and out into the sophistication of the art world. That changed. He came to see the art world as putting value on the wrong things. And he found things he valued in his memories of the town of his youth.
Placerville in those days was not on any main roads. It was a small town, somewhat cut off. In Kinkade's paintings, you'll find renditions of Pete's Barber Shop and the Ben Franklin Five and Dime. You may see him on his paper route, the route where he met Nannette. But he doesn't just paint Placerville, he paints a mood of quiet and safety and peace.
Many of Kinkade's paintings are of cottages and peaceful sunsets. At his galleries, trained salespeople will work the lights to show you how a painting appears different under different lighting conditions. But all of the technique and all of the presentation is designed to convey a feeling of peace and safety that Kinkade, himself - I think - sought in his boyhood town and found in his faith and his family.
But, again, is a mainstream, Christian value system enough to generate the kind of venomous comments directed his way? No, Thomas Kinkade wouldn't be on so many ridicule radars if he wasn't so blasted successful.
Thomas Kinkade Makes Piles of Money while "Real" Artists are Starving
What really gets to a lot of folks in the art culture is that Thomas Kinkade has sold boatloads - indeed fleetloads - of paintings. He does that by understanding his market and by doing the things that great marketers do. He understands why people buy his paintings, he makes it easy for them to become involved, and he is a savvy promoter of his brand.
Thomas Kinkade isn't the only one with his values. He isn't the only person who longs for a simpler time or wants to live in a more peaceful age. Ten million people have bought his prints because they want those things, too, and Kinkade's work helps them fill those wants.
He also makes the buying experience pleasant. Contrast the average "art gallery" with a Thomas Kinkade gallery. In the former, you're likely to see white walls and stark lighting and - unless you're part of the art scene yourself - people who are dressed differently than you are. At a Kinkade gallery, you'll find comfortable couches to sit on and people who look like you to go through catalogs to help you make a choice.
Does that matter? Absolutely! People don't like to be intimidated or sneered at and that's precisely what happens in many art galleries today. Instead, at Kinkade's galleries they feel comfortable and they don't even have to spend a lot of money if they don't want to.
Kinkade sells lots of stuff. There are coffee cups and lamps and Christmas tree ornaments and more. And then there are the prints themselves. Kinkade doesn't sell his originals any more, he's holding them back as investments for his children, but he sells prints at an array of price points.
There are basic prints for around $1500. There are "Renaissance Editions" that have additional details added by one of Kinkade's "Master Highlighters." For a bit more, one of those Masters will come to the gallery where you purchased your print and add the highlights right there, talking to you, making sure the work is just what you want and that you're involved in its creation. "Master Editions," highlighted by Kinkade himself, cost around $15,000
The people who buy these products don't buy them, because Kinkade is a great artist. They buy them because they want to experience the nostalgia and the simpler times that Kinkade captures. They buy because they want that print hanging in their living room.
Kinkade has also understood the value of his brand. He's registered the descriptive phrase "Painter of Light" and uses it in all his marketing. He has his own galleries, catalogs and Web site. He's cut deals with the likes of Westinghouse to produce a branded line of products. No other artist working today comes close.
